http://tyagaraja-chicago.org/WordPress/?p=274
Chicago Tyagaraja Utsavam has already deviated from its original mission of promoting arts to the current mission of promoting xxx and his son xxxx. There are so many good mrudangists in town. They are not given an opportunity. They get 10% of what is given to this boy. If he is good in mrudangam, other organizations
will call for him. xxx does not need to put him in all events and have a mrudangam monopoly.
Same with the competitions that Chicago Tyagaraja Utsavam conducts. xxx and xxx must ensure that only parents of non-participants are in the internal circle.
How can one call the competition fair when the so called volenteers send their children to the competitions and already know who the judges are, who the other participants are, at what level they registered and questions like that. The general public does not know these. So, how can you call them volenteers? They are just there to promote their children and seek limelight and prime spot such as seating in front row, undue advantage and exposure to judges. One cannot be sure if the demo entries are also being treated fairly as it goes through these so called volenteers.
If xxx wants his utsavam to be called fair, then he has to pick volenteers whose kids have grown up and have them run the show, not parents with aspiring
kids like xxxx.
Best regards
Chicago Tyagaraja Utsavam - Feedback
-
mri_fan
- Posts: 382
- Joined: 15 Aug 2006, 22:12
I suspect this will become a yearly thread exactly 2 months after the inevitable Cleveland Aradhana thread...
Incidentatly, despite the use of the xxx's, it will be obvious to those with some knowledge of Chicago's festival who exactly is being spoken about...a leading organizer in the area whose incredibly political has in some ways, taken over logistics of the festival to suit his own interests. Perusing the website, one will notice an incredible amount of bureaucracy for their Aradhana (seating charts for the pancharatnas????etc ) and the composers of these charts always have their children in the front rows of the proceedings. His complains on this forum are probably the only place he can discuss the issue, because even to post an anonymous comment on the website, you need to send them your email address (so to truly be anonymous, you have to use an email id that in no way can identify you). just for the record, i don't live in the chicago area anymore, but the festival has changed a lot in recent years.
it makes us NA's appreciate the professional level with which Cleveland is run.. Cleveland's festival is not perfect, but compared to almost every other aradhana, is far better run
Incidentatly, despite the use of the xxx's, it will be obvious to those with some knowledge of Chicago's festival who exactly is being spoken about...a leading organizer in the area whose incredibly political has in some ways, taken over logistics of the festival to suit his own interests. Perusing the website, one will notice an incredible amount of bureaucracy for their Aradhana (seating charts for the pancharatnas????etc ) and the composers of these charts always have their children in the front rows of the proceedings. His complains on this forum are probably the only place he can discuss the issue, because even to post an anonymous comment on the website, you need to send them your email address (so to truly be anonymous, you have to use an email id that in no way can identify you). just for the record, i don't live in the chicago area anymore, but the festival has changed a lot in recent years.
it makes us NA's appreciate the professional level with which Cleveland is run.. Cleveland's festival is not perfect, but compared to almost every other aradhana, is far better run
-
suma
- Posts: 516
- Joined: 02 Feb 2010, 23:56
Chicago Tyagaraja Utsavam had great concerts. It ranged from perfect Classism by my beloved artist TM Krishna to Gracious Devotion by Aruna Sairam. I am only a rasika and my knowledge is limited. So please bear with me.
TM Krishna's Concert was simply superb. His Mukhari alapana was so good. He sang that very softly with a lot of bhavam. As usual all other pieces were great and several people took notes on the list of songs. He did RTP in Kambhoji. The auditorium was jampacked. RK Shriram Kumar another favorite of mine was excellent and as a team they did very well. A Violinist can bump up a concert or leave it at the main artist's level. What we saw with this team is the peak of PERFECT CLASSICISM. It was very very good. Arun Prakash was very good. We wish they sing here every weekend!
Aruna Sairam's concert was very good. I never heard her live but knew that she draws huge crowds in Chennai. However, only after I went into her concert, I realized why she draws those crowds. Whether people knew the song or not, whether they knew the talam or not, they were all enjoying and putting whatever talam they like, and devotionally moving their bodies. She sang a pallavi that said something like this (Thyagaraja palayamam, guru guha syama sastri namaste) or something like that. Basically, she praised these great composers by taking one at a time and touching on different ragams and compositions by them and then moved on to the next one. In doing so, she did it with perfect ease and had no problem jumping between so many ragams and songs sound bytes. To the rasikas, she was touching popular pancharatnams, kamalambha navavarnam etc and it sounded so good. That was the highlight of her concert although all other pieces were also very good.
Maharajapuram Srinivas's concert was enjoyable. His son stole the show. In the middle of Tani Avartanam, instead of the percussionist playing, his son said those ta ka di na tanga (sorry I dont know what it is called), but the verbal version of what would otherwise be played on the mrudangam. Very interesting. The concert was good. He sang Chala Kalla Ladu in Arabhi. When he did the alapana, his son followed up and finished it from upper Sa to lower Sa. The organizer was so pleased with his son, that he went on stage and hugged this boy. Seeing him approach, the violinist who was performing did not know what was going on and stopped for a minute. The audience cheered and then the violinist continued. The Mrudangam artist was very good.
TM Krishna's Concert was simply superb. His Mukhari alapana was so good. He sang that very softly with a lot of bhavam. As usual all other pieces were great and several people took notes on the list of songs. He did RTP in Kambhoji. The auditorium was jampacked. RK Shriram Kumar another favorite of mine was excellent and as a team they did very well. A Violinist can bump up a concert or leave it at the main artist's level. What we saw with this team is the peak of PERFECT CLASSICISM. It was very very good. Arun Prakash was very good. We wish they sing here every weekend!
Aruna Sairam's concert was very good. I never heard her live but knew that she draws huge crowds in Chennai. However, only after I went into her concert, I realized why she draws those crowds. Whether people knew the song or not, whether they knew the talam or not, they were all enjoying and putting whatever talam they like, and devotionally moving their bodies. She sang a pallavi that said something like this (Thyagaraja palayamam, guru guha syama sastri namaste) or something like that. Basically, she praised these great composers by taking one at a time and touching on different ragams and compositions by them and then moved on to the next one. In doing so, she did it with perfect ease and had no problem jumping between so many ragams and songs sound bytes. To the rasikas, she was touching popular pancharatnams, kamalambha navavarnam etc and it sounded so good. That was the highlight of her concert although all other pieces were also very good.
Maharajapuram Srinivas's concert was enjoyable. His son stole the show. In the middle of Tani Avartanam, instead of the percussionist playing, his son said those ta ka di na tanga (sorry I dont know what it is called), but the verbal version of what would otherwise be played on the mrudangam. Very interesting. The concert was good. He sang Chala Kalla Ladu in Arabhi. When he did the alapana, his son followed up and finished it from upper Sa to lower Sa. The organizer was so pleased with his son, that he went on stage and hugged this boy. Seeing him approach, the violinist who was performing did not know what was going on and stopped for a minute. The audience cheered and then the violinist continued. The Mrudangam artist was very good.
-
rshankar
- Posts: 13754
- Joined: 02 Feb 2010, 22:26
It is called konnakOL! It used to be part of 'full bench' concerts in the past. Smt. Vedavalli has been involved in the revival of this dying art form.suma wrote:In the middle of Tani Avartanam, instead of the percussionist playing, his son said those ta ka di na tanga (sorry I dont know what it is called), but the verbal version of what would otherwise be played on the mrudangam. Very interesting.
-
sadananthan
- Posts: 23
- Joined: 21 Apr 2008, 09:17
When someone pointed out the nepotism that is going on in Cleveland, there was an uproar. Now it looks like Chicago is following suit in right earnest! It is very clear that Carnatic music in America is meant to serve interest groups like sons and daughters of local organizers and also to enrich the purses of visiting artists. This latter part is ok since the visiting musicians do it as a profession.
By the way, the Chicago Aradhana web site has a feed back arrangements with a caveat" CTU reserves the right not to publish any feed back comments that IT feels not publishable"
How stupid! Feed back is supposed to be open to all but their power struggle is seen even there. God bless Thyagaraja saint.
By the way, the Chicago Aradhana web site has a feed back arrangements with a caveat" CTU reserves the right not to publish any feed back comments that IT feels not publishable"
How stupid! Feed back is supposed to be open to all but their power struggle is seen even there. God bless Thyagaraja saint.
-
manvantara
- Posts: 64
- Joined: 04 Apr 2008, 01:10
(I had posted this in the "Music and Festivals" section):
I had a chance to attend some of the concerts at the Chicago Tyagaraja Uthsavam (http://tyagaraja-chicago.org/).
I attended the concert of T.M.Krishna, Aruna Sayeeram and part of the Gundecha brothers' concert.
I do not have a list of the kritis presented, but here are some thoughts:
Concert of T.M.Krishna: Overall enjoyable, but at various points, Krishna seems to resort to some gimmickry - there were times when he sang so softly that he was barely audible and a few minutes later, he sang so loudly that I felt as if he was angry and shouting at someone! This did not, in any way, add to the presentation - in fact, it made it a bit annoying.
The main raga was thodi and the kriti was "Jesina-dellama" - my personal opinion is that he sang the sangatis too fast and it seemed as if all the swaras were jammed together at high speed! The "sowkhyam" aspect was completely absent.
Aruna Sayeeram's concert: She started off with a very meditative piece - a rendering of a shloka, and then ever so slowly glided into music. It was lovely.
Mid-way, she told us about her new CD, recorded and marketed by an American company and told us it was available for sale and said she'd re-start the concert in 5 minutes. That was a complete disaster as the 5 minute break stretched to 20 minutes. (it is just not possible to expect 300+ people to get back to their seats in 5 minutes!).
Concert of the Gundecha brothers: By far, this was the best of the three that I could attend!
Initially, they took their time tuning the tamburas, apologising for it and explaining that the temperature differences kept changing the shruti.
Once they started their concert, it was pure bliss - the brothers alternated in their alap phrases and one could never find out who was singing - so perfect was their shruti alignment and the way they took off from each phrase. I have never heard anyone sing so clearly in so many octaves! (I am not good at explaining this, but let me try: from their regular S, P,S, they were able to sing the lower S and the P below that S! On the higher side, I heard them go up to S very clearly and come back fine). All this done with no gimmickry. There was one piece on Devi, (the raga was announced as Siva Ranjani) that was outstanding. On the whole, I felt very meditative hearing them sing and it was a mood that I did not want to get out of.
Sorry, I do not have kriti list nor information about the other concerts, but I look forward to inputs from other rasikas.
Also, there are other aspects of the Uthsavam that I'd like to write about (audience discipline, for one), but I will touch on that a bit later.
I had a chance to attend some of the concerts at the Chicago Tyagaraja Uthsavam (http://tyagaraja-chicago.org/).
I attended the concert of T.M.Krishna, Aruna Sayeeram and part of the Gundecha brothers' concert.
I do not have a list of the kritis presented, but here are some thoughts:
Concert of T.M.Krishna: Overall enjoyable, but at various points, Krishna seems to resort to some gimmickry - there were times when he sang so softly that he was barely audible and a few minutes later, he sang so loudly that I felt as if he was angry and shouting at someone! This did not, in any way, add to the presentation - in fact, it made it a bit annoying.
The main raga was thodi and the kriti was "Jesina-dellama" - my personal opinion is that he sang the sangatis too fast and it seemed as if all the swaras were jammed together at high speed! The "sowkhyam" aspect was completely absent.
Aruna Sayeeram's concert: She started off with a very meditative piece - a rendering of a shloka, and then ever so slowly glided into music. It was lovely.
Mid-way, she told us about her new CD, recorded and marketed by an American company and told us it was available for sale and said she'd re-start the concert in 5 minutes. That was a complete disaster as the 5 minute break stretched to 20 minutes. (it is just not possible to expect 300+ people to get back to their seats in 5 minutes!).
Concert of the Gundecha brothers: By far, this was the best of the three that I could attend!
Initially, they took their time tuning the tamburas, apologising for it and explaining that the temperature differences kept changing the shruti.
Once they started their concert, it was pure bliss - the brothers alternated in their alap phrases and one could never find out who was singing - so perfect was their shruti alignment and the way they took off from each phrase. I have never heard anyone sing so clearly in so many octaves! (I am not good at explaining this, but let me try: from their regular S, P,S, they were able to sing the lower S and the P below that S! On the higher side, I heard them go up to S very clearly and come back fine). All this done with no gimmickry. There was one piece on Devi, (the raga was announced as Siva Ranjani) that was outstanding. On the whole, I felt very meditative hearing them sing and it was a mood that I did not want to get out of.
Sorry, I do not have kriti list nor information about the other concerts, but I look forward to inputs from other rasikas.
Also, there are other aspects of the Uthsavam that I'd like to write about (audience discipline, for one), but I will touch on that a bit later.